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Wednesday’s Practice Report

Hod Rabino

Well-Known Member
Staff
Feb 23, 2015
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Offense:



First Team Offense:


LT Sean Na’a
LG Ben Bray
C Cade Briggs
RG Aaron Frost
RT Max Iheanachor
QB Trenton Bourguet
RB Kyson Brown/Cam Skattebo
WR Melquan Stovall
WR Elijhah Badger
WR Troy Omeire
TE Bryce Pierre/Jalin Conyers

DeCarlos Brooks rotated in at running back during team periods.

Second Team Offense:

LT Sean Na’a
LG Cade Briggs
C Ben Bray
RG Makua Pule
RT Aaron Frost
QB Jaden Rashada
RB Tevin White/George Hart III
WR Gio Sanders
WR Andre Johnson
WR Jordyn Tyson
TE Messiah Swinson/Ryan Morgan



Defense:



First Team Defense:

EDGE BJ Green
DL CJ Fite/Anthonie Cooper
DL Dashuan Mallory
EDGE Clayton Smith
LB Tre Brown

LB Tate Romney
CB Ro Torrence
CB Ed Woods
NICKEL Jordan Clark
S Shamari Simmons
S Chris Edmonds

Second Team Defense:

EDGE Elijah O’Neal
DL Tristan Monday
DL Blazen Lono-Wong
EDGE Gharin Stansbury
LB James Djonkam
LB Caleb McCullough
CB Demetries Ford
CB Keith Abney
NICKEL RJ Regan/Macen Williams
S Josiah Cox
S Alphonso Taylor/Damon Williamson



Wednesday’s practice saw the Sun Devil football team in shorts, pads, and helmets ahead of their first game back in Mountain America Stadium this week. Energy was very apparent today as there is only three days separating the matchup against the number six team in the nation.



After stretch lines concluded, the punt unit came onto the field led again today by Dario Longhetto. Longhetto as a reminder is the usual placekicker. Longhetto and usual running back Cam Skattebo alternated punting balls to the scout team punt return. Both kickers in this case did not boom many punts but did their best before Josh Carlson punted. Carlson as expected kicked better but his status is unknown in terms of availability on Saturday.



During the special teams’ period, both offensive and defensive lineman groups started their practice on their own. Offensively, linemen worked in pairs as assistant coach Saga Tuitele instructed his men to strike and use active feet. The o-line looked to work on outside zone development in pairs before heading to the team segment. Defensively, assistant coach Vince Amey had the defensive lineman under a shoot, fighting off a medicine ball, before exploding out. Amey echoed, “Earn the right to pass rush” the whole period.



The offense got into their team segment right after special teams. Much like yesterday, there was much more of a passing emphasis this morning versus the usual rushing. The first team period was very extensive as the group went back and forth installing the game plan versus running the plays. Quarterback Trenton Bourguet headed the group with Jaden Rashada behind him as Kenny Dillingham later elaborated that Rashada would not play on Saturday unless it is an emergency.



Both sides of the ball got into their respective individual drills. Defensive tackles were working on the sled practicing extension. Coach Amey was very hands on blocking like an offensive lineman or using padded arm sleeves to activate players hand movement.



EDGES today somewhat in conjunction with the defensive tackles did not work so much on the pass rush but rather batting down balls and dropping in coverage. As Prince Dorbah is still out with an elbow injury, Elijah O’Neil has stepped up as a somewhat alternat to BJ Green and Clayton Smith.



Safeties in particular worked with defensive coordinator Brian Ward on committing on breaking to the ball imitating interceptions. Ward threw balls after the players dropped in coverage as they will heavily against Oregon.



Finally, defensive backs also at one point worked with coach Ward on solidifying the zone coverages. The secondary continued to pass off coverages which will be a major emphasis as Oregon quarterback Bo Nix is somewhat notorious for picking apart zone defenses.



Moving over to the offense, running backs and tight ends joined together with the quarterbacks to run routes on air. Bourguet and Rashada threw quick strikes to the players as both quarterbacks were throwing nice balls quickly. Like coach Ward, Kenny Dillingham also got involved with the players here posing as an outside linebacker making the receivers decide their spacing and route decisions.



The wide receivers then switched spots with the other position groups which saw a little more excitement in practice as the quarterbacks dialed it up a bit. There was a little more variation today routes wise as everything was not so quick. Bourguet responded with nice balls as the deep ball is not necessarily his forte. Rashada on the other hand is known for his arm and some of the rust seen yesterday was knocked off. Dillingham yelled “nice ball” multiple times to both players as this practice was very reminiscent of early fall camp.



Special teams followed for the second time in practice, today was the emphasis on punt return and kickoff return. During the punting portion, wide receiver Jordyn Tyson has been thrown in to catch punts in alternation of Melquan Stovall. On the kickoff side, it looks as if Elijhah Bader will assume the kickoff return duties again.



Going back defensively during a seven-on-seven, there was continuing practice on the passing of zone coverages. The defense got off to a slow start as scout team quarterback Hunter Herrera got hot. The scout team attacked the second-level. The defense would tighten up but there was some susceptibility shown.



The starting offense and defense got together for a combined seven-on-seven segments where the deep ball emphasis changed back to the short game usual play. The defense played tight coverage, but the offense still moved somewhat efficiently. Once down in the redzone there were touchdowns thrown by both Bourguet and Rashada but the hot hand at the moment is Bourguet. Rashada is still battling back and trying to find his rhythm as missing nine weeks is nothing short of substantial in Rashada’s case.



Both sides of the ball would end doing their own team versus scout periods trying to solidify the instillation and practices that have occurred this week. A very complete Oregon team comes to Tempe in a couple days as many Sun Devil fans remember the last time an Oregon team with playoff aspirations came to town. This game will need serious execution by ASU to make this another game to remember.
 
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